It's a Saturday and I have just finished my last week of training in Tai Chi at Rising Dragon Martial Arts School. The last few weeks have been lots of hard work as always. I spent the last 3 weeks perfecting my Tai Chi. We did wonder whether wewould move on to a different style but our teacher wanted us to work on what we had learnt and to perfect it which worked out well in the end as I now know I won't forget it in a hurry! I will deffo contune to practise it most days when I return home as it is a great way relax and as a bonus is good for your health. It will also be great to do before exams and stuff when I am nervous or stressed.
A bunch of us went bamboo rafting a couple of weeks back. The rafts were three people per a raft and we each had a little bamboo seat. We went along a pool trhough some beautiful mountains and at one point it got really narrow with very high walls which was really cool. I've also been to Sanming a couple fo times recently with Marlon to sort out extending my visa. I had to miss a couple of days of training unfortunately but atleast its all worked out now.
We all went out to the local village Xinqiao last night and had a goodbye meal and drinks for me and Ben who is also leaving. It was a nice night. I have had a really great time here and probably would have liked to stay longer and try a different style. But I am also very excited about going travelling and I only have a week when I get back before I start university, so the end of my gap year is nearly upon me. What a gao year its been!
I've got so much out of this last China experience, the training has definitely been a test of my motivation and stamina, not to mention my ability to get out of bed at ridiculous times in the morning. I have met some great people here as I seem to have everywhere this year, and have some fantastic memories. Not only can I take away my tai chi and continue to practise it, I can now know that I have survived this intense thing, traveled to Asia and achieved a lot of personal goals. I am very happy :)
Moving on to the next eciting thing, ym trip os now over yet! My flight has been changed to just over 2 weeks later and I in fact now off with Marlon to visit first Shnghai and a couple of other places nearby and then to Beijing! I am soooo excited, it will be fantastic. Hong Kong was so good and that was only a few days so having this much time travel will be amazing. I really thought I wouldn't be able to do travelling when coming to China so the fact that I can see Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing is pretty much perfect. We are leaving in a couple of hours to go to Taining and catch a coupl of buses to get to Nanchang. We stay there for the night and then fly to Shanghai on Sunday so I guess my next blog will be from there!
xxxx
Friday, 26 August 2011
Saturday, 6 August 2011
Hong Kong
Hello hello,
I have much to report, mainly that I went to Hong Kong Last week :D
A guy I met here needed to go to sort out some visa stuff and so I went along too, it was great to do a bit of travelling as I was sure I wouldn't be able to whilst I was here.
We stayed in a really nice hotel, which was heaven after the heat, mosquitoes and hard beds of the school and they had western style breakfast so I got to have cereal again which I have been craving since I got here lol. We also ate loads of nice japanese food and vegetarian stuff.
We did a lot of walking around Hong Kong and also got to see Harry Potter which I was a bit too happy about. I was sure I would have to wait ages but we found an English viewing no problem :D We also did a beautiful cablecar ride to an island where there was a giant biddha in the mountainside. It was one of the most beautiful places the view really did look like a tropical paradise. We also sorted out the visa stuff which didn't go exactly to plan so I will have to complete it here in Fujian but I'm sure it won't be a prob.
We travelled there and back in a night bus that had beds instead of chairs! It was pretty bizarre lol. It only took 11 hours from Sanming on the way there but on the way back we couldn't get a direct flight so we had to get 2 buses and a train which took more like 18 hours but atleast we got back eventually.
I did end up missing nearly a weeks worth of training which I was a bit worried about but it turns out I've managed to catch up with Stephen in terms of my form. I can feel my fitness has taken a bit of a step back but I'm sure I'll be back on track soon and it was totally worth it. It was such a nice trip and Hong Kong was a pretty great place, such a contrast from my what I've seen of rural China. Most people spoke English and I found I was the one staring at Westerners instead of the other way around as it is here out in Fujian.
I have now completed 5 weeks in China so only 3 weeks of training remain. I have fininshed 13 out of 14 parts of my Tai Chi form so probably only have one more day of learning to go! Then I'm sure I will have to keep going over timing and positioning for a bit but then I can move onto another internal style of martial arts. I'm not sure what to go for yet as I won't complete anything in this short space of time but I do want to do a more powerful form. Tai Chi is all about technique and self-defence so it would be great to build up some strength to compliment that.
Most of my friends here left last week and our class went from 9 people to 5 which did feel like a big drop, especially if someone is ill for a day and we have even less. New people have been arriving though and some people have stayed on of course. I've been visiting Taining a lot at the weekends as usual and a couple of weekends ago we went to a club with most of the school which was hilarious. We train so hard in the week and go to bed so early so everyone just wants to have fun at the weekend, we all got so into the dancing lol. We are hoping to go on a rafting trip through the mountains next weekend if I can organise numbers of people so I will feed back on that if that's a success. It looks beautiful.
I'll write here again soooon xxxxxxxx
I have much to report, mainly that I went to Hong Kong Last week :D
A guy I met here needed to go to sort out some visa stuff and so I went along too, it was great to do a bit of travelling as I was sure I wouldn't be able to whilst I was here.
We stayed in a really nice hotel, which was heaven after the heat, mosquitoes and hard beds of the school and they had western style breakfast so I got to have cereal again which I have been craving since I got here lol. We also ate loads of nice japanese food and vegetarian stuff.
We did a lot of walking around Hong Kong and also got to see Harry Potter which I was a bit too happy about. I was sure I would have to wait ages but we found an English viewing no problem :D We also did a beautiful cablecar ride to an island where there was a giant biddha in the mountainside. It was one of the most beautiful places the view really did look like a tropical paradise. We also sorted out the visa stuff which didn't go exactly to plan so I will have to complete it here in Fujian but I'm sure it won't be a prob.
We travelled there and back in a night bus that had beds instead of chairs! It was pretty bizarre lol. It only took 11 hours from Sanming on the way there but on the way back we couldn't get a direct flight so we had to get 2 buses and a train which took more like 18 hours but atleast we got back eventually.
I did end up missing nearly a weeks worth of training which I was a bit worried about but it turns out I've managed to catch up with Stephen in terms of my form. I can feel my fitness has taken a bit of a step back but I'm sure I'll be back on track soon and it was totally worth it. It was such a nice trip and Hong Kong was a pretty great place, such a contrast from my what I've seen of rural China. Most people spoke English and I found I was the one staring at Westerners instead of the other way around as it is here out in Fujian.
I have now completed 5 weeks in China so only 3 weeks of training remain. I have fininshed 13 out of 14 parts of my Tai Chi form so probably only have one more day of learning to go! Then I'm sure I will have to keep going over timing and positioning for a bit but then I can move onto another internal style of martial arts. I'm not sure what to go for yet as I won't complete anything in this short space of time but I do want to do a more powerful form. Tai Chi is all about technique and self-defence so it would be great to build up some strength to compliment that.
Most of my friends here left last week and our class went from 9 people to 5 which did feel like a big drop, especially if someone is ill for a day and we have even less. New people have been arriving though and some people have stayed on of course. I've been visiting Taining a lot at the weekends as usual and a couple of weekends ago we went to a club with most of the school which was hilarious. We train so hard in the week and go to bed so early so everyone just wants to have fun at the weekend, we all got so into the dancing lol. We are hoping to go on a rafting trip through the mountains next weekend if I can organise numbers of people so I will feed back on that if that's a success. It looks beautiful.
I'll write here again soooon xxxxxxxx
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